Wishful Wednesday featuring Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Wishful Wednesday was inspired by Waiting on Wednesday and Desperately Wanting Wednesday by Breaking the Spine and Parajunkee.

Wishful Wednesday is my own little version of "Waiting On Wednesday". Every two weeks or so, I'll pick a topic or genre and list a few upcoming books (or book) that I'm anticipating the release for. This week, that book is going to be what I hope is an awesome book, Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios. This is going to be the first book in the Dark Caravan Cycle series and it looks like it's going to be AH-MAZING! Holy crap, this is dark fantasy, magic, and elements in a swirling whirlwind of dark illustrious danger waiting to happen. I have to get my hands on a copy of this soon!

Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios

Expected Publication: October 7, 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Age Demographic: YA Dark Fantasy
Pages: 480

Forced to obey her master.

Compelled to help her enemy.

Determined to free herself.

Nalia is a jinni of tremendous ancient power, the only survivor of a coup that killed nearly everyone she loved. Stuffed into a bottle and sold by a slave trader, she’s now in hiding on the dark caravan, the lucrative jinni slave trade between Arjinna and Earth, where jinn are forced to grant wishes and obey their human masters’ every command. She’d give almost anything to be free of the golden shackles that bind her to Malek, her handsome, cruel master, and his lavish Hollywood lifestyle.

Enter Raif, the enigmatic leader of Arjinna’s revolution and Nalia’s sworn enemy. He promises to free Nalia from her master so that she can return to her ravaged homeland and free her imprisoned brother—all for an unbearably high price. Nalia’s not sure she can trust him, but Raif’s her only hope of escape. With her enemies on the hunt, Earth has become more perilous than ever for Nalia. There’s just one catch: for Raif’s unbinding magic to work, Nalia must gain possession of her bottle…and convince the dangerously persuasive Malek that she truly loves him. Battling a dark past and harboring a terrible secret, Nalia soon realizes her freedom may come at a price too terrible to pay: but how far is she willing to go for it?

Inspired by Arabian Nights, EXQUISITE CAPTIVE brings to life a deliciously seductive world where a wish can be a curse and shadows are sometimes safer than the light..

To PreOrder a copy of Exquisite Captive by Heather Demetrios visit Amazon & Barnes&Noble!

Website Twitter Facebook 

When she's not traipsing around the world or spending time in imaginary places, Heather Demetrios lives with her husband in New York City. Originally from Los Angeles, she now calls the East Coast home. Heather is a recipient of the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award for her debut novel, Something Real, which Publisher's Weekly calls “[An] addictive yet thoughtful debut” about reality TV stardom. She is the author of the upcoming EXQUISITE CAPTIVE, a smoldering fantasy about jinn in Los Angeles (#1 in the DARK CARAVAN CYCLE), as well as I’ll Meet You There. Coming from Macmillan in Winter 2015, I’ll Meet You There is a love story about a young combat veteran and a girl trapped in their small town, both struggling to escape the war at home. Heather is the founder of Live Your What, an organization dedicated to fostering passion in people of all ages and creating writing opportunities for youth of limited economic means. She is proud to have an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Book Review: Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown

Lies Beneath
by Anne Greenwood Brown
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication: June 12, 2012
Pages: 320
Age Demographic: Young Adult
Received via: Netgalley
amazon | b&n

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans, killing them to absorb their energy. But this summer the underwater clan targets Jason Hancock out of pure revenge.

They blame Hancock for their mother's death and have been waiting a long time for him to return to his family's homestead on the lake. Hancock has a fear of water, so to lure him in, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter, Lily. Easy enough—especially as Calder has lots of practice using his irresistable good looks and charm on ususpecting girls.

Only this time Calder screws everything up: he falls for Lily—just as Lily starts to suspect that there's more to the monsters-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined. And just as his sisters are losing patience with him.

* Summary taken from Goodreads.

❝My Thoughts❞

Lies Beneath is a dark thrilling world filled with, dangerous mystery, undulating romance, and creative deceptive inhuman creatures. Anne Greenwood Brown's world of mermaids is extremely dark, rich, and complex. She does not shy away from showing just how cruel, callous, murderous, and full of spiteful venom they are. They are fueled by revenge and will stop at virtually nothing to get it, come hell or vapid high water. It is simply a dark and delicious world full of tension and terror.

Anne Greenwood Brown's writing is exquisitely beautiful and marvelously vivid in the most terrifying sense. The imagery is remarkably breath-taking as readers delve deeper into her descriptions of the under-water-world these mermaids inhabit and are bound to, Lake Superior, and the town of Bayfield. What's even more refreshing is to see this story told from a male's view point. Lies Beneath is amazingly suspenseful, cleverly written, and emotionally engaging.

Her world is dark and mystifying, creating such a treacherous twist on mermaids. This isn't your normal story of mermaids; it doesn't pain the picture of happily-ever-after. These creatures are hollow and filled with envy; they crave human joy and happiness. They harbor a great amount of resentment towards their prey (humans) and have no qualms about sucking the life-force out of them. Once they've drained their aura, they discard them without so much as a flick of the eye, leaving them behind cold and devoid of any signs of life. They are bound in more ways than one, bound physically to the water and bound magically to their family and territory they claim.

It seems that for every choice made, there is a consequence that must be faced. So, which will it be for Calder? Will he end up choosing his heart or his vengeance? His love or his loyalty to his family?

Calder is this wonderful dark and deceptively mesmerizing merman, who exacts an interesting cleverly written plan of revenge on the man who caused his mother's death. One thing he didn't account for was that he would start to develop a connection to Lily, the daughter of the man culpable of his mother's demise. Once the connection is there, he simply cannot imagine causing her as much pain as he's endured, by killing her father. So, he spends a great deal of the story conflicted and growing closer to Lily.

Lily, on the other hand, is a wonderfully strong and unique character. She's got an incredible spark of sarcasm and just the right amount of grit. There so many wonderful admirable qualities that make her stand out, like the fact that she has strong opinions and tends to do what she wants to regardless of what other's might think. She's definitely not afraid to speak her mind or make her feelings known. She and Calder definitely make quite an interesting pair, as they slowly start building a relationship of trust. Their chemistry is indescribable, in a pretty amazing way. It has a different feel to it that is sure to keep readers intrigued and rooting for them.

The ending will not only keep readers on the edge of their seats, but will keep them craving more. They'll be guessing right up until the end - one they won't see coming. There's so many amazingly written wonderful tension filled twists and turns, that this novel will definitely not disappoint any fan of mystery and intrigue. Anne Greenwood Brown has created an intensely fascinating world filled with intriguing mythos and wonderfully developed character's that is sure to leave readers stunned and mystified.

{ This ARC was provided by via the publisher through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain. Any piece of this ARC that was/wasn't quoted, is not part of the finished product and should not be perceived as such.}

FREE Two Days Only: A Vampire Novel with Actual Bite!

FREE Two Days Only: A Vampire Novel with Actual Bite!



As the modern world establishes itself and pushes the supernatural into the shadows, the supernatural fights back.

The Darkening Dream is a chilling new dark fantasy novel by Andy Gavin, creator of Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, that has received rave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and is FREE for two days only on Amazon Kindle (February 7th to 8th)! Download your FREE copy here: .

Long-time readers of dark historical fantasy (Tim Powers, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Kurtz) will appreciate the weaving together of mythology, occult, and religion, while younger readers and fans of HBO dramas (True Blood, Carnivàle) or urban fantasy (Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher) will be drawn to the twisted imagination, graphic action, and romantic tension.

About The Darkening Dream

Even as the modern world pushes the supernatural aside in favor of science and steel, the old ways remain. God, demon, monster, and sorcerer alike plot to regain what was theirs.

1913, Salem, Massachusetts – Sarah Engelmann’s life is full of friends, books, and avoiding the pressure to choose a husband, until an ominous vision and the haunting call of an otherworldly trumpet shake her. When she stumbles across a gruesome corpse, she fears that her vision was more of a premonition. And when she sees the murdered boy moving through the crowd at an amusement park, Sarah is thrust into a dark battle she does not understand.

With the help of Alex, an attractive Greek immigrant who knows a startling amount about the undead, Sarah sets out to uncover the truth. Their quest takes them to the factory mills of Salem, on a midnight boat ride to spy on an eerie coastal lair, and back, unexpectedly, to their own homes. What can Alex’s elderly, vampire-hunting grandfather and Sarah’s own rabbi father tell them? And what do Sarah’s continuing visions reveal?

No less than Gabriel’s Trumpet, the tool that will announce the End of Days, is at stake, and the forces that have banded to recover it include a 900 year-old vampire, a trio of disgruntled Egyptian gods, and a demon-loving Puritan minister. At the center of this swirling cast is Sarah, who must fight a millennia-old battle against unspeakable forces, knowing the ultimate prize might be her very soul.

The Reviews Are In

"A vampire novel with actual bite." ~The Kirkus Reviews

"Mr. Gavin has brought something refreshingly new to a genre now suffused with poorly-concealed bodice-rippers which have more in common with Fabio than Bram Stoker: depth. His big baddies are scary, not romantic interests, and the added religious lore is complex and engaging. Don't expect another Twilight -- the story can get downright creepy, so be prepared for a return to the old horror sensibilities of supernatural fiction." ~Amazon Review

"With Mr. Gavin's video-game pedigree, I was expecting something aimed squarely at the 18-25 year old fanboy contingent; what I got in The Darkening Dream was something wholly unexpected: A period novel with a female protagonist, a crash-course on Judaism in the colonial years, and multi-layered series of plot arcs featuring a crazy cast of natural and supernatural characters populating 18th Century Colonial America." ~Amazon Review

"…A perfect blend of mystery, magic and myth. A grown-up Grimm's fairy tale...emphasis on grim." ~Amazon Review

Read the first two sample chapters here >> .

Get your FREE copy of The Darkening Dream for two days only on Amazon here.

No eReader or Kindle? No problem. Get free apps for your Web Browser, PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, or Android Phone.


Cover links can be found: Here as well as Here.

Book Review: Fever by Lauren deStefano

Fever
By Lauren deStefano
Publisher: Simon&Schuster
Publish Date: February 21, 2012
Format: Hardback, pp 352
Age Demographic: Young Adult
b&n // amazon

“Our footprints emerge from the ocean, like ghosts are roaming the beach. I like that. We are the ghosts of sunken countries. We were once explorers when the world was full, in a past life, and now we're back from the dead.” (pp's 1 & 2)

Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but danger is never far behind.

Running away brings Rhine and Gabriel right into a trap, in the form of a twisted carnival whose ringmistress keeps watch over a menagerie of girls. Just as Rhine uncovers what plans await her, her fortune turns again. With Gabriel at her side, Rhine travels through an environment as grim as the one she left a year ago - surroundings that mirror her own feelings of fear and hopelessness.

The two are determined to get to Manhattan, to relative safety with Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan. But the road there is long and perilous - and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and young men die at twenty-five, time is precious. Worse still, they can’t seem to elude Rhine’s father-in-law, Vaughn, who is determined to bring Rhine back to the mansion...by any means necessary.

In the sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price - now that she has more to lose than ever.

*Summary taken from Goodreads.

❝My Thoughts❞

Fever is a dark, thrilling, and captivating dystopian world full of beautiful thought provoking images. The dying girls covered in glitter has a magical way of putting readers right inside the carnavals described in brilliant rich detail with their rusty old merry-go-rounds. It is a gut-wrenching emotional rollercoaster, that is phenomenally gripping and action packed. It does a wonderful job, picking up where Wither left off. Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but not necessarily the danger that follows them wherever they seem to run to.

De Stefano does a brilliant job of painting a stark picture of deep-seeded fear, overwhelming hopelessness, and incredible danger that both Rhine and Gabriel must face. When faced with a heart wrenching decision of whether her freedom is worth more than she has to lose, Rhine must decide between head and heart under some pretty extraoridinarly overwhelming conditions. She does so, with an amazing wealth of strength and graceful courage. Her voice is incredibly strong and possesses this melodic quality that has the ability of putting readers in a trance with it. Fever is a highly charged emotionally bold story that is often times realistically dark and gritty. It is a uniquely interesting and cleverly written novel, where de Stefano has created a terrifying world of dark compelling beauty and short life spans where women only live until they are twenty and men survive until their twenty-fifth year.

Filled with action-packed danger lurking around every corner, creatively clever story arcs that will leave readers engaged til' the last page has been read, and heart-pounding romance on the way to freedom Fever is sure to be one of the most compelling reads in 2012. De Stefano possesses this uncanny ability to draw her readers in with strong imagery, beautiful prose that's almost lyrical at best, fascinating world building that she expounds on further in the second installment of her Chemical Garden trilogy, and richly developed characters that experiences exponential growth with each novel that follows. Fever is a deeply conflicted and compelling tale of danger and survival. It's about the lengths one would go to in order topursue their personal choice of freedom and what they will risk, no matter the cost - life or death. It will leave reader's breathless and wanting more.

{ This ARC was provided by ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain. Any piece of this ARC that was/wasn't quoted, is not part of the finished product and should not be perceived as such.}